The invention relates to a device for the positioning of molecules.
One known approach to move nanoscale molecules and atoms on surfaces is to use a Scanning Tunneling Microscopes (STM) or an Atomic Force Microscope (AFM). According to this approach one molecule at a time is moved using a local scanning probe tip induced electric field. While this is an effective method to direct molecular motion on surfaces, it is a serial process that is hardly scalable. Currently nanoscale car races are conducted using an STM induced tip.
Nanoscale molecules that tend to self-assemble can be coerced in forming patterns through directed self-assembly with surface patterning. However, such directed self-assembly results in static structures having a rigid architecture.